Okay, he did adopt a super-nippy stance on the bike (all you could see was a shining grey head of hair as he crouched low over the bars to eke out every little bit of aerodynamic advantage he could muster) but it was a resounding victory for the master of the freewheel,nonetheless.

Now in his 73rd year, he reckons he has had a win of some sort in the 7 decades he’s been cycling, from the 1950s. No mean feat, I reckon.

Did I mention that postman Stuart Peckham delivered himself into second place, just beating Phil Underwood into third, despite apparently stoking up on pies for more weight, the better to roll with.

Former winner, club secretary Peter Weaver, rode over from Verwood to ensure he was fully warmed up before beginning his cooling down freewheel to fourth place and a car ride home with wife Carolyn.

With a little bit of a weight advantage Martin Balk beat yours truly (a mere nine-and-a-half stone, or 60-and-a- bit kilograms for the modern lot) for fifth place.

Even lighter were brothers 11-year-old Ben and nine-year-old Zac Cloete who still put up a great show by taking seventh and eighth places and beating their dad Warren who went DNF* after developing a speed wobble!

*Did not finish

On Saturday afternoon Bournemouth & District Women’s Cycling Association held their annual ‘Ladies 2-Up’ at Ringwood, on course P303.
A ‘2-Up’ is for teams of 2, riding one behind the other and (usually) taking turns at the front. This event was for mixed teams – 1 lady and 1 gent – and 10 teams turned up to ride.
The winners were Sue Longland, partnered by husband Glenn, (both Antelope RT) in a time of 25m20s, followed by Claire Newman & Simon Wheeler (both Crabwood CC) in 25m26s.
A quote from Claire, talking to Pete Weaver while she was waiting to start – ‘I haven’t ridden a TT for 3 months so I don’t know how I’ll get on’. Obviously the lay-off hadn’t done Claire too much harm!
New Forest CC’s Carolyn & husband Pete Weaver finished in 29m02s.